|
Book |
Quote/Comment |
Mother in the Middle
Searching for Peace in the Mommy Wars, by Deborah Shaw Lewis
&
Charmaine Crouse Yoest
© 1996, p11 |
I had graduated with a B.A. in elementary
education. Afterward I had taken a job at a day-care center, teaching
three-year-olds...
Several years later I took the position of director at...a small chain of
day-care centers in and around Chicago...
We were the best that private day care could offer.
But...I knew I could never put a child of mine in any day care...
Category = Caregiver, Quality |
Mother in the Middle
Searching for Peace in the Mommy Wars, by Deborah Shaw Lewis
&
Charmaine Crouse Yoest
© 1996, p. 140 |
My mornings were spent simply trying to
maintain minimal control of (several) three-year-olds, all desperate for
some individual attention from an adult.
Category =
Caregiver,
Quality |
Mother in the Middle
Searching for Peace in the Mommy Wars, by Deborah Shaw Lewis
&
Charmaine Crouse Yoest
© 1996, p. 140 |
I set up a written schedule: six
children each day, one at a time, on a rotating basis. I knew it wasn't
much, but that was the only way I could be sure that each child got my
individual attention at least once a week.
Category = Caregiver,
Quality |
Mother in the Middle
Searching for Peace in the Mommy Wars, by Deborah Shaw Lewis
&
Charmaine Crouse Yoest
© 1996, p. 140 |
This was the most prestigious and pricey
place in town to send a child. I overheard parents talking about how this
center was expensive but it was worth it to get quality care for their
children. I wanted to shake those parents! And suggest that they stop and
count the number of children in my room. Couldn't they see how crowded we
were? Why didn't one of them, just once, ask me a direct question about what
was going on in the classroom?
Category =
Caregiver,
Quality |
Mother in the Middle
Searching for Peace in the Mommy Wars, by Deborah Shaw Lewis
&
Charmaine Crouse Yoest
© 1996, p. 141 |
Finally...DFACS (Department of Family
and Children Services) showed up for an inspection. But their policy was to
phone in advance. So the director knew the day ahead of time. She had the
place shining. And thirty minutes before the DFACS inspector arrived, half
my class was loaded into one of the school vans for an aimless drive around
town until the director turned on the back porch light. That was her signal
that it was OK for them to return. So while DFACS inspected, I had a
comfortable (number of) children in my care, with an assistant teacher. The
inspector was in and out of my room in three or four minutes, without
bothering to ask me a single question.
Category =
Caregiver, Regulations |
